The Heathers story has existed as a cult classic since the movie starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater was released in 1988. The Off-Broadway musical, written by Laurence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy in 2014, restored interest in the dark comedy. It’s not often we can laugh at bullying and murder, but that’s what this script encourages the audience to do.

The production at Buffalo State, running through October 30th, has all the right pieces to create a solid production. As Veronica, Lexus Hale possesses an incredible vocal instrument, which might have been a little tired during the production I saw. The Heathers, played by Carolyn Freeman, Link Hagerty, and Kathleen Dunne, are certainly embracing the popular girl cliche. Freeman’s strongest moment comes in “The Me Inside of Me,” but I don’t want to reveal why in case you’ve somehow never seen anything Heathers related. The performance of the night for me came from Jake Grear in “My Dead Gay Son.” Act One ends a little heavy, and Grear’s performance does all it’s intended to. It’s a true show-stopper.

While the vocal talent in the production is on display and the choreography is terrific, I felt like the energy at the performance I attended was a little low. Much of Heathers depends on fast-paced humor to diffuse the darkness of the material. I felt that the pacing and delivery sometimes took the audience out of the performance. That kind of problem generally disappears as performances continue, so it didn’t overshadow the aforementioned standout performances.

Overall, the Buffalo State production of Heathers is an ambitious attempt at material that is very nuanced, with excellent vocal performances abounding.